


The Cutest Bunny in Beacon Hills

by normalcatbehaviour



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:50:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2258130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/normalcatbehaviour/pseuds/normalcatbehaviour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Seriously, Derek. What did you do to annoy the witch? We’ve talked about how that isn’t a good idea,” Stiles says.</p><p>Derek’s ears droop and Stiles officially loses it. </p><p>“Oh my God,” Stiles manages through wheezing laughter. “Look at your sad little bunny ears!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cutest Bunny in Beacon Hills

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd, so feel free to let me know if you spot anything that made it past my quick read through.
> 
> This was meant to be pure fluff about bunnies but somehow family feels seem to keep sneaking in.

“So,” Stiles says, trying not to laugh. “A witch did this. Why would a witch do this?”

Derek continued to glare silently.

“Seriously, Derek. What did you do to annoy the witch? We’ve talked about how that isn’t a good idea,” Stiles says.

Derek’s ears droop and Stiles officially loses it. 

“Oh my God,” Stiles manages through wheezing laughter. “Look at your sad little bunny ears!”

“Stiles,” Derek growls. “Shut the hell up. Seriously, Stiles, stop laughing! I will hurt you, I swear to God.”

“Oh don’t even bother, Sourbunny. You couldn’t be threatening right now if your life depended on it. You have _whiskers_.”

“You know what else I have, Stiles?” he says, pulling back his lips in an attempt at a snarl. “Teeth.”

“Yeah you do,” Stiles agrees. “And they’re adorable too. I don’t think she actually did anything to them though. Huh. Have your teeth always be this cute?”

Derek’s growling increases. “Stiles, I don’t care if I have the teeth of a newborn kitten right now, if you don’t stop I _will_ use them to rip your throat out.” 

“Oh give it a rest, you little fluffy weirdo. You wouldn’t hurt me and you know it. You like my babbling too much. Also the fact that I didn’t immediately call the pack when you sent me your _found the witch, have bunny face, please bring carrots_ text.”

“That’s not what it said,” Derek denies.

“Yes it was,” Stiles says. “Word for word, in fact. The first thing I did after finding you your damn carrots was commit that text to my memory forever. I’ve memorised it for eternity, ok, because nothing this good will ever be texted to me again. Derek Hale telling me he has _bunny face_. It’s like a weird yet amazing dream.”

“You brought carrots?” Derek asks after a few seconds.

“That’s what you took from that? Really?” Stiles huffs. “Yes, I brought you carrots, they’re here somewhere, hold on.”

Stiles rummages around in his bag until he finds the sought after veggies and is about to throw them over too Derek but is distracted by his face

“Twitchy little bunny nose!” he exclaims, almost immediately regretting it. “Sorry,” he says quickly. “Sorry, I know this can’t exactly be fun for you, but you have no idea how cute you look with a bunny face.”

Stiles sinks into the cushions of Derek’s couch, hoping they might swallow him and help him disappear. Derek’s couch is clearly not in on the plan, and Stiles stays hunched up on one end, clutching his bag of carrots like a shield, while Derek sits down next to him.

Derek holds out a hand and Stiles passes over his makeshift shield, wondering if Derek will be distracted by his snack long enough for Stiles to make his escape. Probably not, he thinks, seeing as Derek hasn’t actually started eating. He’s just holding the bag in his lap, staring at his hands clenched in the plastic. For some reason the droopy ears don’t make him feel like laughing at all this time.

“When we were little,” Derek says softly, startling Stiles slightly after the long silence, “Mom went through this phase of face painting. It only lasted a couple of years, but every party we had for a while, you could guarantee Mom would be on face painting duty. She always used to make me a bunny, because of my teeth, you know. She knew kids at school were teasing me about them so she just told me ‘Well, that just gives you a head start on being the cutest bunny Beacon Hills has ever seen.’ She let me go in to school with my face painted a couple of times. The teacher wasn't exactly happy about it, but the kids in my class were mostly just jealous I had a Mom who could face paint.”

“Your Mom sounds like an amazing lady,” Stiles says a little sadly.

“She was,” Derek replies, not trying to hide the tears he’s blinking back. “After they were gone, Laura and I kind of made it tradition to paint each other’s faces on their birthdays. Laura was pretty good, but all I could really manage some kind of butterfly wing pattern. She never complained though.”

"I'm sure she loved it, Derek," Stiles says, barely holding back his own tears.

“It would have been my brother’s birthday today,” Derek whispers. “I was in the preserve, I just wanted some time to walk around and remember them, you know? I didn’t mean to startle her.”

“The witch?” Stiles asks, losing track of the conversation for a moment.

“Yeah,” Derek sighs. “She said I looked sad, like I was missing something important. I thought she was talking about my family because, well, duh, but...”

“But?” Stiles 

“I think she was maybe talking about the – the face paint, you know? It was tradition for so long. But now Laura’s gone, and – I think she was trying to help, maybe. It didn’t feel like a spell with any intent to harm me.”

“It’ll probably wear off by tomorrow then, right?” Stiles guesses.

“That’s what I assumed,” Derek mumbles.

“Ok...” Stiles trails off. “Derek, you know I don’t mind being here, but if you think this is going to wear off by tomorrow then why did you ask me to come? You could have got away with no one ever knowing this happened. Were the carrots really that important?”

Derek looks back down at the forgotten carrots, takes a deep breath in.

“No,” he admits. “I probably have carrots in my fridge somewhere. I just... I wanted someone to know, Stiles. It’s a tradition, even if I’m the last one left to do it. I didn’t want it to be...forgotten, I guess. I just needed someone other than me to see.”

Stiles heart aches. It hits him all at once, the true enormity of what Derek has lost. He reaches over and puts his hand over Derek’s.

“Thank you,” Stiles says. “For telling me. For letting me see. I – I don’t know if I’d be overstepping, but...maybe next time, I could help? I know it’s not the same. I’m not family.”

Derek shakes his head, turns his hand over under Stiles’ and threads their fingers together.

“I would really appreciate that,” Derek says quietly. “I think... I think they’d want me to carry it on. With the family I build for myself.”

Stiles doesn’t even realise he’s moving to kiss Derek until Derek’s met him halfway. It’s a soft kiss, but that doesn’t stop it being full of emotion. When they finally break away from each other, Derek’s got flushed cheeks, slightly swollen lips, and a surprising absence of bunny face.

“Oh,” Stiles says, feeling almost sad to see it gone. “I don’t, um. I thought it was going to last all day?”

Derek smiles, a soft little thing that makes Stiles’ insides twist around.

“Maybe it knows that I can carry on the tradition without magical help now. If you still want-”

“Yes,” Stiles interrupts. “Yes, I still want.”

They do eventually manage to get out and find a store that sells face paints, but not before they’ve both been thoroughly kissed.

If they also buy a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates for the witch as a thank you, no one needs to know.

 

(Years later, when Derek has the family he never thought he’d get, that he still wasn’t sure he deserved, Stiles makes sure they always have a cupboard full of arts and crafts supplies. The face painting is still tradition, will always be something he’ll have of the family he lost. But now he has a family that he found all by himself; a pack to support him, a husband to love, kids to start his own traditions with. And he does.)


End file.
